How to clean your fridge

To do daily to decrease overall cleaning:
~Clean any spills immediately

~Check for any expired food and discard bad items

~Place anything likely to drip or leak on a plate

Spring Cleaning Checklist:
~Turn off the power

~Remove all food and put in deep freezer or cooler

~Remove shelves and crisper drawers. If shelves are glass, bring to room temperature before you wash them so they don't crack.

~Wipe the interior with a solution of 2 tablespoons baking soda and 1 quart hot water. Rinse and wipe dry. Be careful when using soap since it can leave behind fragrance, which will be absorbed by food.

~Wash shelves and bins in same solution. Wipe dry and replace.

~Clean the door seals with hot water and liquid soap; dry thoroughly with a clean cloth. Check the seals periodically.

~Clean the drip pan or tray, if your refrigerator has one. Check your manual for location and cleaning tips.

~Vacuum under fridge and base grill

How to clean your small appliances

How to clean small appliances:

Toaster Oven
Remove racks; wash them in warm, soapy water. Scrub the interior with a nylon scrubber and a mild abrasive. Wipe outside with a damp cloth

Garbage Disposal
Run ice cubes and lemon or orange peels through it to clean the blades and give your sink a fresh smell

Coffeemaker
Wash carafe and wipe down outside of the machine.

To remove mineral deposits: Pour equal parts white vinegar and water into the tank. With the carafe in, run the machine for half a cycle, then turn off. After an hour or so, turn it back on and finish the cycle. Run two or three cycles with fresh water before brewing coffee.

Deep Freezer
Turn off power and allow to defrost. Wipe down interior with a solution of 2 tablespoons baking soda and 1 quart hot water. Rinse and wipe dry.

Oven
Wash racks by hand. Mix 1/4 cup salt, 3/4 cup baking soda, and 1/4 cup water into a paste. Brush on, avoiding metal coils and let sit overnight; remove mixture using a putty knife. Wipe with clean with a sponge.

Microwave Oven
Wipe stains with warm, soapy water; rinse. For baked on messes, heat a glass of water in the microwave on high for two to three minutes or until boiling; let stand with door closed for five minutes for steam to loosen the food and then wipe interior.

Stove
Electric burners: Wipe food off burners when they are cold. If food remains, open windows, turn burners to high, and let the food smoke off. Scrub the burner pans with an equal mixture of baking soda, salt and soap and scrub with a metal scrub brush.

Gas burners: Always wash porcelain-coated stove-top pans and grates by hand.

How to clean:
Cutting board
After every use clean both sides with a damp cloth and antibacterial soap. Rinse with hot water and allow it to dry in an upright position. Every few weeks, use a heavy sprinkle of coarse salt on the board and rub it with a sliced lemon. Rinse well with hot water.

If you have a butcher block cutting board, you'll need to oil it about once a month. Heat a small amount of mineral oil in a pan and apply it to the wood with the grain. Allow the wood to soak up the oil and continue applying until the wood stops absorbing the oil. Wipe off any excess and allow the board to dry overnight.

Silver
Place sterling or plated silver in an aluminum pan (it has to be aluminum for the chemical reaction to work) and sprinkle 1/2 to 1 cup baking soda over the silverware. Pour enough boiling water to cover the utensils. When the tarnish disappears, remove the silverware and buff with a soft cotton cloth.

Spice Grinder
After every few uses process soft, fresh white bread through the grinder to soak up and oil and spices left behind.

Cast Iron
Scrub it with coarse salt and a soft sponge. Never use soap on cast iron.

Complete Spring Cleaning Guide coming soon!

I am working on a complete Spring Cleaning guide, organized by every room in the house. I will try and post one room a week for the months of April and May.

I've got Spring Cleaning Fever!

Oatmeal Scones

As part of our St. Patrick's Day breakfast for dinner, I decided to make oatmeal scones. These were actually part of the St. Patty's Day Brunch Menu from Epicurious, so I have to credit them with the inspiration.


This was the second time I have made scones and honestly, I think I will make them more often since they are super quick and easy to make and they are great with coffee in the morning.

The oats gave the scones a soft, nutty flavor and a slightly crumbly texture. I served these with soft honey butter.

Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar plus additional for sprinkling
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
Finely grated zest from 1 large navel orange
2/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk plus additional for brushing

Directions:
~Preheat oven to 425ºF.

~Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, and salt into a food processor, then add oats and pulse 15 times. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with small (pea-size) lumps, then transfer to a bowl.

~Stir together zest and buttermilk and add to oat mixture, stirring with a fork just until a dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead 6 times.

~Pat dough into a 1-inch-thick round, dusting surface with more flour if necessary. Cut out as many scones as possible with cutter, dipping it in flour before each cut, and transfer scones to a lightly buttered large baking sheet. Gather scraps into a ball, then pat into a round and cut out more scones in same manner.

~Brush tops of scones with buttermilk and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Bake in middle of oven until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes, and transfer to a rack.

~Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe from :Epicurious

Corned Beef Hash

There are some things I am weird about, foodwise. I can't eat foods with names I think are funny (Baba Ghanoush, succotash) and for the longest time I wouldn't eat corned beef because even when it was cooked, it was still pink. But I have since changed my ways after having a few Rebuens. So I was excited this year to actually make corned beef for the first time.

Now, I did cheat a bit and bought beef brisket that was already corned, so I just had to cook it, but I still added some extra pickling spices to the meat to make it extra flavorful. I mean, who are they kidding with the scant half tablespoon of spices that comes with the corned beef brisket?

Now, just because I like Rubens, doesn't mean I really wanted corned beef and cabbage. So I decided to make breakfast for dinner on St. Patrick's Day so we had corned beef hash.


The Good Husband really liked this hash and honestly, it was the first time I had made hash. Considering that TGH usually eats his fried eggs and 'taters together, I am not surprised he liked the meat in with it.

Ingredients:
1 pound russet potatoes
1 large onion, diced
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
3/4 cup beef broth
2 tablespoons horseradish
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 pounds cooked corned beef, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
fried eggs as an accompaniment


Directions:
~Peel potatoes and cut into 1/2-inch dice. Add potatoes to a large saucepan of boiling water and boil 6 minutes, or until just tender. Drain.

~In a large non-stick skillet cook onion and garlic in butter over moderate heat, stirring, until onion is golden.

~Add bell pepper and cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Sprinkle flour over mixture and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Stir in broth, horseradish, and Worcestershire sauce and simmer, stirring, 2 minutes. Add corned beef, potatoes, and salt and pepper to taste and cook over moderate heat, turning hash, until browned and crisp, about 15 minutes.

~Serve hash with fried eggs.

recipe from:Epicurious

Philly Cheese Steak

The Good Husband is a picky eater. He used to only eat burgers and fries and nothing else. Then he was introduced to a Philly Cheese Steak and now that is his go-to dinner. If any place has it on the menu, TGH will order it.

I should make a very important distinction here. TGH has never been to Philly and has never had a real Cheese Steak. He has only had Cheese Steaks from Midwest kitchens. I have only been east of Indiana once and that was to go to the beach, so I haven't had a real Cheese Steak either.

So I don't want to offend anyone that has had and knows how to make an authentic Cheese Steak with this recipe of a fake Cheese Steak. This is the kind of Cheese Steak you will get from a Midwest kitchen for someone who has never had a real Cheese Steak, made by someone who has never had a real Cheese Steak.

But, hey, it tastes as good as the ones from the state fair.

Ingredients:
2 lbs rib eye, sliced thin
2 green bell peppers, sliced thin
1 large onion, sliced thin
Canola oil
Hoogie Rolls
Sliced Provolone Cheese

Directions:
~Place meat in freezer for 20 minutes to allow the meat to firm. This will make slicing easier. After 20 minutes, remove from freezer and cut as thin as possible on a bias. Slice onion and peppers.

~On a very hot griddle, heat a few tablespoons of oil. Sautee the onions and peppers until soft and golden brown. Remove the onions and peppers and add the meat, cooking until no longer pink. Add the onions and peppers back to the griddle to heat through.

~Split the hoogie rolls and spoon in a generous helping of meat, onions and peppers. Place 2 slices of Provolone cheese on top and melt until a broiler for a few minutes until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

As you can see from the recipe that I make a ton of the filling. I like to freeze whatever I don't use, along with several slices of cheese, so that on nights when I don't feel like cooking, I can throw the mixture on the griddle and have dinner in a few minutes. You can freeze the rolls too, but I need my freezer space, so I usually just pick those up fresh.

recipe by: The Good Wife

French Onion Soup

I used to hate French Onion Soup, which is funny because I can eat an onion like an apple, and may have on a dare once.

I don't know what it was about the soup I though I didn't like but then I tried it at a neighbor's house. I remember seeing her pull out of the oven this small white crock that overflowed with cheese and bread. The cheese was golden and running down the side of the crock. The bread was nestled under a pile of creamy cheese, soaking up all the hearty deliciousness of beef and onion flavor. One bite of that soup and I was forever a fan.

Sadly, I can't make this soup all too often. The Good Husband is super sensitive to onion cooking and no matter how well I think I have the kitchen ventilated, his eyes will start to water. So I have to wait for a day when he won't be home for a few hours, so the onions won't bother him.



Ingredients:
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
2 Tbs. olive oil
5 medium onions, thinly sliced
Pinch of dried thyme
2 Tbs. dry sherry (I used white wine, just because I am not a fan of sherry)
2 Tbs. Worcestershire
3 1/2 cups Brown Beef Stock
1 to 1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 to 3 slices French bread, toasted if fresh
1 Tbs. grated Gruyere cheese (I used Swiss cheese, however, since I am not a fan of Gruyere)

Directions:
~Heat the oil and butter in a soup pot over medium-low heat until the butter is melted. Add onion and stir to coat. Add the thyme and cook, stirring occasionally, careful not to burn the onions, over medium heat. As soon as the onions start to brown, after about 15 minutes, reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook, covered, stirring more often, until the onions are a rich brown color, about 40 min.

~Add the sherry (or wine) and Worcestershire and cook on high until the alcohole has cooked off. Add the beef stock and bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

~Place 8 ovenproof crocks on a baking sheet. Fill 2/3 of the way full with soup. Top with French bread and cheese and broil or bake at 450 till cheese is melted and starting to brown. Serve immediately.

The Godfather Sauce, a dish you can't refuse.

The Godfather is in my top ten favorite movies of all time. In high school, a friend and I were obsessed with this movie. We would ask each other all sorts of obscure movie trivia about the film (Which order does Apollonia say the days of the week in English?).

This so would have been one of those questions. Actually it might have.

But for some reason it was so funny to me to make this sauce from the movie that The Good Husband was entirely sick of me making jokes about it throughout dinner. That, or he was scared I was going to whack him.

For anyone that has never seen The Godfather, it follows the Corelone mob family in the late 40s. This scene takes place between Michael Corelone, son of the mob boss Don Vito, played by the young and smoking hot Al Pacino, and Peter Clemenza, Don Vito Corleone's caporegimes or high ranking made member of the Corelone family, played by the late Richard S. Castellano.



Ingredients:
Olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 small can tomato paste
1 pound Italian link sausage, cooked and diced into bite sizes
1 batch homemade Italian meatballs
1 cup of red wine, I used Pinot Noir
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:
~"You start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic." I actually sauteed the garlic on low heat for about 10 minutes until golden.

~"Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste. You fry it. You make sure it doesn't stick. You got it to a boil, you shove in all your sausage and your meatballs. Add a little bit of wine. A little bit of sugar. And that's my trick." Yeah, basically all that.

I served this sauce over regular spaghetti but the next day TGH made a killer (heh) meatball sub.
recipe by:Peter Clemenza

Italian Meatballs

I used this recipe to make my Godfather Sauce, but it is a good universal meatball recipe.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground lamb
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 eggs
1 cup Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup flour

Directions:
~Combine beef and lamb in a large bowl. Add garlic, eggs, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper.

~Add bread crumbs and wine to meat mixture. Mix to just combined, careful not to over mix the meat. Roll into about 16 2 inch meatballs. Roll the meatballs in the flour.

~Heat oil in a large skillet. Fry meatballs until golden brown, turning once.

~Combine cooked meatball with marina sauce and simmer on low for 15 minutes until heated through.

recipe by: The Good Wife